How to Make Spaghetti Squash

My son and I went to the pumpkin patch last weekend. We had so much fun looking at the barn animals, going through the corn maze and picking out our pumpkins. While we were there I came across a large yellow squash. The lady that worked there told me that it was spaghetti squash. I have heard of it before but had no idea how to cook it or what to make out of it. I decided to give it a try. I did some research and found out that its a popular substitute for pasta noddles (hence the name), in pretty much any dish. There are less carbohydrates and more nutrition that traditional noddles as well. It was really easy to make and I felt much better eating squash noodles than regular pasta noodles. 

Ingredients:

1 large spaghetti squash

water

Yields roughly 5-6 servings noodles, depending on size of squash

Time: 1 hour

Recipe:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. While the oven is preheating, wash, cut and scrape out squash. To cut, remove the top potion with the stem and then cut lengthwise down. This will be difficult and will require some brute strength. 

Using a large spoon scrape out the insides of the squash, much like you would with a pumpkin. 

Pour about 1/2 of water on cookie sheet and place the squash, rind up on sheet. Bake on middle rack of oven for about 45 minutes.

 To remove noodles, take fork and scrape width wise across the inside of the squash. The squash should be soft but have the texture of al dente noodles. You can scrape till you get close to the rind.

Now that you have these noodles, what to do with them? Like I said, you can replace them for any recipe that calls for pasta noodles. Instead of cooking them in boiling water, simply saute them with olive oil until they are hot and the consistency that you want.

My husband and I made some for dinner the other night. I just threw all the left over ingredients I had in my fridge from the week. This included sauteed onions, mushrooms, and garlic, artichoke hearts, sun dried tomatoes, and garnished with grated fontina cheese and green onions. I didn't want anything to go to waste so I just threw it all in. 

Much to my surprise it turned out really well. My husband brought the leftovers to work for lunch the next day and said it was delicious. My favorite part about it was that I felt good eating it. I didn't feel my usual pasta remorse as I normally do after I scarf down a bowl of fettuccine alfredo. 

French Toast Casserole Recipe

I am a member of a MOPS group here in Colorado. If you don't know what that is, it's a mommy group that meets to listen to speakers, do crafts, community service projects and to eat a huge brunch. We take turns bringing food and next week it is my groups turn. I want something really tasty and also something I have never made before. Given my track record of trying new recipes on important days, I decided to give this recipe a try this weekend for my family. It turned out so well that I will be bringing it to my group on Wednesday. I highly recommend that you try it. My favorite thing about it was how easy and quick it was to make. My second favorite thing was crunchy praline topping. The original recipe is by Paula Deen but I made some adjustments that I recommend that you follow. 

You have to start this dish the night before, it needs to refrigerate overnight. 

Ingredients:


20 slices of french bread, about an 1 inch thick, fresh or day old
6 large eggs
2 cups of half and half
1/2 cup of milk
2 tablespoons of granulated sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
dash of salt
1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg


For praline topping:


1 cup of chopped pecans
1 cup of light brown sugar
2 tablespoons of light corn syrup
1/2 cup of butter, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg


Yields 8-10 servings, pictured above.
Test portion, pictured below, yields 4-5 servings 


Time: 10 minute prep and 40 minute cook time. 


Recipe:

Line sliced bread into two rows in a greased 9x13 baking pan. They will be overlapping. In a medium size bowl mix eggs. To the egg mixture add half and half, milk, sugar, vanilla, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg and mix well but not frothy. Pour mixture over bread, making sure to get in between the overlapping pieces. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight. 

Take your butter out for fridge so it will be room temperature in the morning. 

In the morning preheat oven to 375 degrees f. Remove the casserole from fridge (bread will have absorbed all the mixture). 

While the oven is preheating  mix the praline topping. Spread evenly over bread slices (nuke the mixture for 20-30 seconds if it is hard to spread).

Bake uncovered for 40 minutes or until  top is slightly crunchy and golden. Do not under bake because it will be really mussy. 

Serve with maple syrup!

To reheat, bake in a preheated 300 degree f oven for 10-15 minutes. If you want it more moist when you reheat, cover with foil. Even more moist? Add some milk and cover with foil. You can also reheat in microwave but you lose some of the delicious crunchiness of the praline topping. 

Handmade Bread and Cinnamon Rolls

Early last week I took my first bread making class. I have never made bread so I needed to know all the ins and outs of how to do it. Since I don't have a mixer I was disappointed to find out that the class was centered around one. I tried to use some of the tips she gave us to make bread the old-fashioned way today, by hand. I made the dough, split it, and then made cinnamon rolls and a loaf of bread. It tasted good. It was sweet, soft and had a nice crust. The problem that I had was that it was pretty dense. It wouldn't rise. Where I live in Colorado is considered high altitude so maybe that was an issue. For a first attempt I am very proud of myself. I will be trying it again until I get it right. I welcome any tips or suggestions.


I got this recipe from allrecipe.com by Nita Crabb


Ingredients: 

3 cups warm water (110 degrees F)

2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast

2/3 cup honey

5 cups bread flour

5 tablespoons butter, melted

1 tablespoon salt

3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

Yields 3 portions of dough

Time: 3 Hours Recipe:

In a large bowl, mix warm water, yeast, and 1/3 cup honey. Add 5 cups white bread flour, and stir to combine.

Let set for 30 minutes, or until big and bubbly.

Mix in 3 tablespoons melted butter, 1/3 cup honey, and salt. Stir in 2 cups whole wheat flour. Flour a flat surface and knead with whole wheat flour until not real sticky - just pulling away from the counter, but still sticky to touch. This may take an additional 2 to 4 cups of whole wheat flour. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to coat the surface of the dough.

Cover with a dishtowel. Let rise in a warm place until doubled.

Punch down, and divide into 3 loaves. Place in greased 9 x 5 inch loaf pans, and allow to rise until dough has topped the pans by one inch. 

Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 to 30 minutes. Do not over bake. Lightly brush the tops of loaves with 2 tablespoons melted butter or margarine when done to prevent crust from getting hard. 

Or make one loaf into cinnamon rolls!

On a oiled surface roll out 1 portion of dough until it is about 1/2 inch thick. Spread warm butter, brown sugar and generously sprinkle with cinnamon 

(you can also add nuts and dried fruit if you want).

Roll in to one big roll and cut 1 inch thick rolls off. Place in greased 9x13 baking pan. Let rise for about 30 minutes. 

Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 to 30 minutes. Do not over bake. Remove from oven and immediately add frosting.

This is a vanilla frosting with lemon zest to give it a little extra kick. It reminds me of Pillsbury Orange Cinnamon Rolls. If you want the recipe let me know. 

Cool completely and store in airtight container in refrigerator. You can freeze them too. I even read that you can freeze and reheat cinnamon rolls after they are cooked and frosted.

Raspberry Jam Recipe

We ran out of jam a couple days ago. Usually we get Smucker's Strawberry Jam. I thought it would be fun to make some strawberry jam for myself and some friends. Unfortunately, the store I went to was out of strawberries. I grabbed a couple packages of raspberries and decided to give that a try instead. I only made a little bit because I wanted to make sure my family would like it, they loved it! The recipe was very easy and took less than 30 minutes.  I used less sugar than the recipe called for and added some lemon juice because I like it tart. It has a really intense flavor because there is no pectin diluting it.  It turned out exactly the way I wanted it too. 

Ingredients:

12 ounces of fresh raspberries, washed 

1 cup of granulated sugar

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

1/2 tablespoon of butter

*you need a potato masher for this recipe

Yields 1 1/4 cup of jam

Time: 30 minutes

Recipe:

Heat oven to 250 degrees f. Pour sugar on cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes to warm up (Warm sugar dissolves better than room temperature).

In a large saucepan add raspberries, butter, and lemon juice. Turn heat on high and bring to a hard boil for 1 minute, mashing constantly. 

Add warm sugar and return to boil. Let boil until mixture forms a gel, about 5 minutes. 

You will know it is ready when you dip your spoon in the mixture, turn it horizontally and the drip is the consistency of thick honey. 

Pour into a sterilized container, wait for it to cool, seal, and refrigerate.

How to Make Butter, Whipped Cream, and Buttermilk By Hand

Today I am planning on making homemade bread and jam, so why not make some homemade butter too? The only thing I really know about making butter is that people used to churn it for a long time back in the day. But can it be done nowadays without a churn? After some investigation I learned that it's easy to do at home. If you have a stand mixer it is really easy. Apparently it only takes 90 seconds to turn cream into butter that way. I don't have a mixer yet so I had to do mine another way. This way is easy but a little labor intensive. I am not going to make all my butter this way because I bake a lot, but I think it will give a meal a special touch when it's an accompaniment or on bread.


Ingredients:


1 cup heavy whipping cream (yields about 1 cup whipped cream, or 1/3 cup of butter and 1/3 cup buttermilk)
1 jar with a tight lid


Time: 15 minutes of shaking


Recipe:

Pour the cream into the jar and seal. 

Shake vigorously. After about 5 minutes you won't hear the liquid move anymore, this is whipped cream (I was too excited to stop and take a picture at this point, but you know what whipped cream looks like anyway :) ). You can add a drop of vanilla and some sugar and serve, or...

Keep shaking...

After another 5 minutes you will see and hear liquid again. This is the buttermilk separating from the butter. Shake for another minute or two to get separate the two well. 

Pour buttermilk into a storage container. 

There will be some buttermilk residue in the jar with the butter. You need to remove this to  increase shelf life.  To do this, make an ice water bath. Pour some of the water (and no ice) into the jar. Seal and shake for about 30 seconds. Dump out the liquid. Repeat until water runs clear. 

Viola! Butter and Buttermilk! I bet you didn't know it was that easy. Seal and refrigerate both.

Things to consider adding to the butter

 (not at the same time):

Sea Salt

Honey

Parsley, Salt and Garlic

Twice Baked Potatoes Recipe

Twice baked potatoes are amazing. Creamy, fluffy, salty and crunchy all at the same time. They go good with steak, chicken or with a side salad. They are very easy to make, and reheat well, even from frozen. Yesterday I made 10 potatoes worth so that I can freeze the leftovers and have them as a quick and delicious side dish anytime.


Ingredients:


10 russet potatoes (the potatoes I used were small so increase other ingredients accordingly depending on size of potatoes used)
1 8 ounce package of cream cheese
1/2 cup of butter
1 cup of sour cream
1/3 cup heaving whipping cream
1 1/2 cups of sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1 cup thinly sliced green onions
1 1/2 cup crispy bacon (or roughly two packages), chopped 
2 garlic cloves, minced
Kosher salt 
Fresh ground pepper
Paprika


If you are feeling fancy try substituting crispy prosciutto for the bacon and diced chives instead of the green onions. This is a more gourmet version, just not cost effective. 


Recipe:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Place butter, cream cheese and sour cream on counter to soften.

Start by washing and scrubbing your potatoes. Let dry completely. Pierce with fork 2x's on each side. Rub with olive oil and generously sprinkle salt and pepper all over (a lot will come off when handling the potatoes later). Do not wrap in foil. 

Place potatoes on the center of the middle rack in oven. Put a cookie sheet underneath to catch the juices and salt that will fall off. Bake for 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours depending on oven.  Potatoes should be soft and indentations should remain after squeezing them. 

Let cool for several minutes (to make handling easier). Cut potatoes in half so they look like little canoes. Using a spoon scrape out the insides of the potato into a large bowl containing sour cream, cream cheese and half the butter. Leave enough potato on skin so that it doesn't fall apart. 

In a small saute pan melt remainder of butter and saute minced garlic for about 30 seconds. Add to the rest of the potato mixture. 

Mash potatoes using a masher or large spoon. Mix ingredients well. Add cream. Using a mixer, mix on low for 30 second to a minute to make the potatoes fluffy. There should still be some lumps. 

Whatever you do, DO NOT OVER MIX. This can quickly give your potatoes a glue-like texture because it releases too much starch. 

Mixture should be thick enough to stay on spoon when held upside down.

Add 1 cup bacon, 1 cup cheese and 2/3 cup of chives to potato mixture. Fold in gently. Using a spoon,  fill potato shells until they are level. Sprinkle the remainder cheese, chive and bacon on top.

Return to oven and bake for 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and they are slightly golden brown. Sprinkle with paprika and serve with ranch or sour cream.

Store in air tight container for up to three days. To freeze, wait until they are completely cool.  Place in freezer safe Tupperware, making sure to separate with wax paper if stacking. To reheat, use toaster oven or conventional oven on low heat (300 degrees F) for about 15-20 minutes. 

Loaded Potato Pancakes Recipe

What to do with all that left over twice baked potato mixture you have? You could eat it by its self, use it to top a shepard pie, or you could make PANCAKES! It's so easy to make potato pancakes. Make sure they are crispy though because otherwise they are really mushy.


Ingredients:


2 cups of leftover twice baked potato mixture
1/4 cup of flour
2 eggs
vegetable oil, for frying
garnish: chives and sour cream


Recipe:

Mix leftover potatoes, flour and eggs. Mixture should be thick. In skillet heat oil over medium high heat. Add 1/4 cup of mixture to hot skillet. Cook for about 3 minutes or until the sides begin to become golden brown and some bubbles appear over surface.

Flip and continue to cook for 1-2 minutes or until both sides are dark brown and crispy. Serve immediately and garnish with sour cream and chives.